Category: Democracy
The problem for the wider community is that through this process, the government has become captured by the naked ambition of a race-based tribal aristocracy to co-govern the country. That this undermines the government’s commitment to a democratic society based on equal rights - relegating all other citizens to second-class status - appears of little consequence.
The case for ‘co-governance’ between the government and iwi is justified according to cultural recognition and social justice beliefs. However that is to make a fundamental error, one that ignores the dangers of including ethnicity into the political arrangements of a democratic nation.
New Zealanders will soon get a chance to participate in the Citizens Initiated Referendum on asset sales. The referendum is required under law after the promoters (Grey Power, the Green Party, the Council of Trade Unions, the Labour Party, NZ Union of Students' Associations, and Greenpeace) secured sufficient signatures in a petition to Parliament this year.
In Switzerland, the people have extensive decision-making power. As in New Zealand, Swiss nationals elect the members of parliament and just as in New Zealand, everyone is entitled to address written requests, suggestions and complaints to the authorities. But in Switzerland, citizens get more of a say.
We all know that in the media business, sensation sells. Advocacy groups like Greenpeace have long taken advantage of this by peddling scare stories - the world is running out of oil or food or trees, polar bears are dying out, the earth is becoming overpopulated, or melting glaciers are flooding the planet. Regrettably not enough people understand the need for scepticism over such reports.
If the Labour Party’s new leader retains their full confidence and support, by Christmas 2014 he could well be our next Prime Minister. What do we know about David Cunliffe and his ideas?
Tribal leaders continue to make on-going demands for new rights and privileges based on claims of Treaty partnership and Maori sovereignty. The question that needs to be asked is whether such partnership and sovereignty claims are valid. The first example, which uses the Treaty partnership argument, is the situation in the Far North where iwi leaders are claiming guardianship rights over the region - “as affirmed in Te Tiriti o Waitangi as Treaty partners”.
With just a week to go until the consultation phase of the government’s constitutional review comes to an end, if you haven’t already sent in a submission, you have until 5pm Wednesday July 31st to do so. The review has focussed public attention on the exercise of constitutional power in New Zealand. In doing so it has become clear that the Maori sovereignty movement has made significant progress towards their goal of the co-management of the country.
We write this open letter to you to express our dismay at recent remarks by Sir Tipene O’Regan, the co-chair of your government’s Constitutional Advisory Panel, as reported in the Otago Daily Times, and to ask what your attitude can be to an official panel which displays the predetermination and partiality which a good number of panel members clearly hold.
The 1986 Royal Commission on the Electoral System, which recommended that MMP replace FPP as New Zealand’s voting system, also recommended the abolition of the Maori seats on the basis that MMP would adequately increase the Parliamentary representation of minority groups including Maori.
Loading ...
